Greece Certain to Find ‘Life After Debt,’ OECD’s Gurria Says

Greece will overcome its fiscal
problems and find that “there’s life after debt,” said Angel Gurria, secretary general of the Paris-based Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development.

Gurria, a former Mexican finance minister, said Greece
faces problems similar to those once tackled by his own nation.

“Mexico never defaulted, but they negotiated with their
own creditors a voluntary arrangement,” Gurria said today in an
interview with Bloomberg Television in Rome. “After a few
years, we moved along to other, more definitive solutions. In
the end, I can tell you: there’s life after debt.”

One year after the 110 billion-euro ($160 billion) bailout
that aimed to end the region’s debt crisis, Greece is in danger
of defaulting without a new rescue package. Some European
countries, led by Germany, have pushed for private investors to
shoulder some of the burden of a new aid plan and are seeking
commitments from banks and insurers to roll over 30 billion
euros of bonds into longer-maturity debt to ease the country’s
financing needs.

The final solution for the Greek debt crisis will have to
involve private creditors, Gurria said.

“Every day there is a new plan, there are so many plans,”
he said. “We’re not very well coordinated in explaining and
speaking. We should speak with a sole voice. I think we are
still not there. I think the ultimate solution will have to
involve creditors.”